


Anagnorisis (UNDER CONSTRUCTION)

by Starrypaws



Category: Portal (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Guilt, Hurt, Ratings will change as it progresses, Romance, Slight OOC, Swearing, all the same things found in these types of things, probably cliché
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-06
Updated: 2017-07-07
Packaged: 2018-11-28 08:37:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,290
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11414214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starrypaws/pseuds/Starrypaws
Summary: Five years after Aperture, Chell finds herself living a semi-normal lifestyle. As it seems, everything good has to come to an end a some point.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Alright lets do this! Hopefully this time I have the courage to keep this posted. Fic has a plot if you squint just enough.

_ Thank you for assuming the party escort submission position _

 

Amongst the soft rumbling of cars in the suburban area, a loud whump broke the serene silence of the apartment, followed by obscene profanities. A young woman laid on the floor, her brown locks making a halo around her head. She got up slowly, her hip complaining as she forced herself to take deep, calming breathes. It was the third time this month she would wake up on the floor, some random part of her bruised. Even though it had been five years since she had left Aperture, it seemed the nightmares still persisted. No one would be able to understand the horrors she went through, they didn’t, definitely not them.. Wouldn’t ever know the panels that would close in on you, sealing your doom. The turrets as they searched for unsuspecting victims and _Her_

 

She. It. Comrade?  _ Murderer. _

Her last words flashed in Chell’s mind.  

 

_ You know, deleting Caroline just now taught me a valuable lesson. The best solution to a problem is usually the easiest one. And I'll be honest. Killing you? Is hard. _

_ You know what my days used to be like? I just tested. Nobody murdered me. Or put me in a potato. Or fed me to birds. I had a pretty good life. _

_ And then you showed up. You dangerous, mute lunatic. So you know what? _

_ You win. _

_ Just go. _

_ It's been fun. Don't come back. _

 

Despite those last words, winning hadn’t been so great, and there was the constant fear that she would wake up one day to find out that everything was a lie.

A sudden knock at her front door caused Chell to wake up from her stupor. She frowned slightly in mock confusion, what time was it? He was way too early, or so she had thought. One quick look at her alarm clock showed her that in fact she was the one that had overslept and wasted the time away with her memories. Chell cursed slightly and looked down at her attire. A simple polka-dotted shirt and pajama pants greeted her back. What a great way to start her morning. “Give me one moment,” she called out as she opened up her drawers and threw on a pair of black jeans and a navy blue t-shirt. This would have to do for now. 

 

Three minutes later, she opened her door and gave an apologetic smile to the waiting male. “You look like hell, rough night?” He asked while coming into the apartment and placing the bag of bagels on her table.  “Neighbors below were loud last night, didn’t go to sleep till one or so,” she replied back with ease as she sat down across from him. “Hmm...” he muttered, giving her a pointed look. “Those must be some wild neighbors then if they can keep you up for a couple of nights in a row.” Marco didn’t push the subject any further and the two each took out a bagel and ate in silence.

 

Chell always felt a bit bad when she lied to him, after all, he was the first person to help her after she had arrived at the outskirts of the city. He was the first to want to help someone who was so dirty, ragged, and all the while carrying a huge cube that was more black than white. As to why she kept that companion cube, Chell couldn’t really place it. Might have had to do with something that GLaDOS once mentioned, that the cubes were sentient and occasionally a word would be spoken. Whether that was true or not, she didn’t want to leave anything behind that would be in  _ Her _ control.

“Hey Chell.” Marco’s voice snapped her out of her daze once again and she mentally scolded herself for being so out of it. She normally wasn’t like this, had she been like this during the testing.. It wouldn’t have been a pretty sight. “I get it. I’m attractive and all and you would probably would like to continue staring at this.” He paused and gestured at himself, “But we probably should start heading off to work now. Don’t want to be late.” She huffed at him, “I’d drop dead before I would ever consider you attractive.” She gave him a cheeky smile before adding, “Now if you excuse me I need to go freshen up a bit.”

“Hard to please as always..” He muttered, while watching her retreating form.

 

“So did you hear about that small asteroid that crashed into lake Superior? So far nothing has showed up but it's only a matter of time.” 

 

She froze for a moment, small asteroid? This brought back another memory, Wheatley. Her one and only friend in that place or so she had thought. He betrayed her at the last second, falling victim to GLaDOS’s jeers. She could already hear the glass cracking and a small “Uh oh” from him before she fell, along with PotatOS into a dark, bottomless pit. She assumed that at least, turned out it fell straight down into old Aperture, where she was forced to work with PotatOS to try and put her back into power. Could that really be him?

 

“Did the article specify if it was just rock or a hunk of metal?” Chell asked quietly, hoping that her voice didn’t sound as weak as she felt it was. Marco hummed thoughtfully for a moment, “Now that I think about it, it did say it was some sort of metal. Probably space debris but it still spiked the interest of some people.” She inhaled quickly, could it really be him? She felt foolish by the small flare of hope that showed up among the layers of scorn she had built up for him. He had betrayed her, tried to kill her. She shouldn’t be hoping that he might still be active after all this time. He was already in bad condition when he was pulled off into space by her portal. Hope was a foolish thing. 

 

“Hey are you alrig-” Marco’s words were cut off by a horn blaring and the sound of screeching tires as another car smashed into the side of his jeep. Chell jerked forward, her seatbelt keeping her from flying out the front window and an airbag inflated in her face. Marco’s voice faded in and out for her and she lost consciousness for a moment. Vaguely she could remember someone dragging her out from the jeep. Another person was yelling and she thought she could hear sirens in the distance. “Chell.. Hey Chell can you hear me?” She groaned slightly and opened her eyes, standing above her was Marco. “Are you alright? You got a cut on your forehead and I think you have a broken arm. I-I’m not sure.” He stammered. She closed her eyes for a moment, her head throbbed and there was discomfort in her left arm, nothing too unbearable.

Chell blinked slowly once, twice before she kept her eyes fully open. Behind Marco, she could see that the side of his jeep was caved in. The other cars front was smashed up like an accordion.  She thought she could see smoke rising but it might’ve been her eyes playing tricks on her. She looked up slowly at Marco who was looking down at her worried. “Hey..” He muttered softly, concern in his eyes. She wanted to ask him if he was okay but didn’t trust her voice at the moment and settled to just look and see if he was hurt. The only thing she really noticed out of place from him was his black hair, it was in disarray. That didn’t make any sen- Wait a minute. She squinted her eyes at his left arm, just where is elbow was. Did she see a flash of metal there?

 

“Don’t strain yourself, the paramedics are almost here.” He whispered before looking around. There it was again. When he moved, the sunlight reflected off of something from his elbow. She got up slowly on her knees and grabbed his left arm, concerned there might be something lodged in there. What Chell didn’t expect to see was torn synthetic skin revealing a metal plating beneath it. She jerked back away from him, her eyes wide open. There had to be some logical explanation to this. “Whoa are you alright?” He reached out for her and she let out a small shriek, “Stay away from you. You.. You thing.” 

 

Marco looked at her confused for a moment, worry still in his eyes before it faded and he stilled. In fact everything had stilled. 

 

**_“How disappointing. It only took you five years to figure it out.”_ ** A voice said, somewhat amused. A voice she hoped she wouldn’t have to hear again. The surrounding walls fell down around her to reveal stained white ones, all the ‘people’ fell down into small holes that opened up and the scene of the crash was swept away easily. All that was left was the black panels, a camera with a blinking red light in the corner and white walls. 

 

**_“How nice of you to finally join reality.”_ ** GLaDOS’s voice boomed out,  **_“I do believe we have time to catch up while you test."_ **

  
  
  
  



	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Making progress here slowly but surely. I'm getting back into my writing groove, Woo! There's more sentiment shown in this one and probably way tooo many flash backs, whoops.

True to her word, Chell found herself back in a lift, going down, bringing her closer to her doom. Already equipped with a portal device and the same old orange jump suit, life couldn’t be any better. She was still dazed that the last five years she lived was all just a lie. The friend she made, the job she worked, and hell her cozy apartment was all a lie. A reminder that she wouldn’t be free ever from Aperture. Not as long as there was a robot in control, programmed to have insufferable urges to test.

 

Solution Euphoria, a reward type feeling that happened whenever a test was completed. She had witnessed it first hand with Wheatley when he was in control, it was the only thing he could really concentrate on. How to get more. Some small part of her reasoned that this was why he went crazy as he did, as well as power hungry seeing that he was a simple personality core stuffed into a huge AI’s chassis. Overwhelmed by all of it, unable to control the surge of power. It made perfect sense and yet she couldn’t bring herself to forgive him for what he put her through. It was unfair of her. 

 

**_“While you were busy living a fake life, I fixed up all the damage the moron did.”_ ** GLaDOS’s voice flickered on from a speaker in the lift.  **_“So there's no need to worry about having any dysfunctional tests, not that you would care with your brain damage.”_ **

 

The small jab that GLaDOS took on Wheatley caused anger to flare up in her, he was gone, probably dead. She was gonna have to listen to the her spewing out insults until she made a wrong move and died. Just great. Chell steeled herself and refused to speak a word, refused to  show any sign that GLaDOS’s words affected her. Just like before. 

 

**_“While I was fixing up the facility I found footage that was recorded during the time he was in control and decided to make a compilation of all the encouraging words he gave to you during testing to boost your morale.”_ **

Chell groaned inwardly, just what she needed to have. Distractions during a test and worst of all it would be  _ his voice.  _ One of the first voices she heard after waking up,  the first one to actually interact with her. Her thoughts were cut off by the lift door opening and revealing a sign that flickered on once she stepped out. “Chamber 01” it read. A few smaller imaged beneath it showed the hazards that would be encountered during the tests. 

 

**_“Seeing that you really let yourself go, I decided that you would need a couple of easier tests so you wouldn’t overwork yourself too much hauling around all that fat.”_ **

And there it was, the same old fat insult. Of course it had to have been mentioned. She sighed faintly and continued on walking, ignoring GLaDOS. One thing she was good at was blocking out her voice. Chell examined the test chamber that laid out before her, a thermal discouragement beam was pointing horizontally at the wall, a redirection cube was on the other side of the chamber, in its little chute, waiting to be released into the deadly toxic pools by a button. A light bridge stood alone in a corner. Easy enough.

 

She shot a blue portal at the white wall where the light bridge faced and shot her orange portal over to where the cube was. She walked over and hit the button, releasing the cube and a ticking sound filled the chamber. Her eyes widened slightly and quickly rushed over to where the bridge was and ran through the blue portal. She grabbed the cube and ran back in, just as the beam deactivated. Now that was something new. She shot a small look of disdain at the camera that was recording her progress, since when did the bridges become timed?

 

Chell made her way over to the beam and set the cube down next to it. She shot a blue portal to where the beam pointed at and shot a yellow one onto a higher platform which held the button that would open the door for her. She walked into the blue portal, grabbing the cube along the way while heeding the beam. She placed the cube down and redirected her orange portal so that the beam would go through it and she adjusted it so the beam would hit a relay. She was rewarded by the sound of the doors opening. She walked through them, victory glinting in her eyes. Chell always felt a bit pleased with herself when she solved a test correctly, a small rush of adrenaline always accompanied her. That might’ve been GLaDOS’s fault with spiking the air with something.  

**_"You finished a lot slower then normal. Even doing nothing for five years, I would've expected you to have finish faster. I'll have to mark that down on your record. Slow, lazy, and thicker all around. Overall you're not a prime example of what a test subject should be, you need a bit of a morale booster now."_ **

Before Chell could even think, Wheatley voice filled the next chambers room.

"Alright. So that last test was... seriously disappointing... So let's try things my way... fatty. Adopted fatty. Fatty fatty no-parents."

She couldn't help but cringe slightly at his voice, too many painful memories resurfaced up from walls she thought she had built successfully. Even though it was bad enough to be insulted by him, Chell noticed that GLaDOS has made a few tweaks in the recording. She cut off a small part and his voice didn't match with the rest of him when he said my. She would've expected something higher quality from her.

She waited to hear the next string insults but instead was greeted by silence. Interesting. She couldn't on with the test as normal, expecting to hear his voice fill the chambers again but everything was silent except for her own footsteps echoing in the chamber. As she placed the cube on the button, a clicking sound resonated throughout the chamber. 

"Are you... are you sure you're solving these correctly? Yes, you 'solved" it, but I'm wondering if there are a number of way to solve them and you're picking all the worst ways." Wheatley's skeptical and agitated tone spoke out again, this time Chell refrained from clinching. She refused to let GLaDOS know that this was affecting her that badly.

Her heart hurt, how could this be the same voice that greeted her when she woke up, so flustered. Yet be so cruel. If only he had stuck with the plan, they both could've escaped unscathed and neither would be living with the regrets now. Or at least she thought he regretted it, who knew? He might've already forgotten that he was the one that started all of this trouble. What if he thought know it was all her fault as he had previously hinted at before smashing their lift into the ruins of old Aperture.

A couple of more chambers later and Chell could really feel the strain it was taking on her body as each chamber became more complex. Yes, she might've lacked a tiny bit in her fitness regime but this shouldn't have worn her down as quickly as it was. Not just physically but mentally as well. She was starting to make small stupid mistakes that could easily cost her life if she hadn't gotten so lucky. How long was she even supposed to be testing for? GLaDOS have no indication that the testing would end any time sooner, seeing that she replayed all of Wheatley's insults again for her. The morale 'boosters.'

She stepped onto the Aerial Faith plate and was launched into the air for the umpteen time, this time cube in hand. She was not gonna risk it falling into the toxic waste like last time. Her boots took the brunt of the landing but even then it still caused problems for both her hips and knees from landing so many times. She peeked over the corner of the wall, scouting the area before pulling back quickly as a turret spoke in its high pitch voice, "Target Acquired." Followed by the sounds of bullets being fired. She placed the cube next to her and waited to hear the trademark, "Target lost." Before all was quiet. She peeked around the corner again and shot blue portal right above the turret before taking cover once again. She picked up the cube and edged around the corner of the walk and placed it on the white paneling on the floor. She shot a orange portal underneath it and a few seconds later, she heard metal hit metal causing the turret to lose balance and start firing uncontrollably. This lasted for a couple of seconds before it deactivated itself. 

Chell looked around the corner again and was satisfied to see that no turrets were left around in her Vicinity. She picked up the cube and continued on, the heels of boots clacking lightly against the floor.

She didn't expect to hear the next turret speaking and dove to the ground, covering her head with her hands in a pitiful attempt to protect herself. She heard the sound of bullets being fired and cowered slightly. A couple of seconds past and she realized that they hadn't hit her. She lifted her head and frowned slightly, there were no turrets in sight and the sound was way to crisp to be coming from the speakers. The sound stopped abruptly and she wondered if it was one GLaDOS's tricks to screw around with her mind. 

Her doubt was erased when she started to speak, **_"I don't know what you're doing but I don't have all day to wait for you to finish this test."_ ** GLaDOS sounded indifferent as always. There was no hint of Humor in the robots voice. Chell wasn't entirely too convinced but got up on shaky legs and took the cube along. The rest of the test went smoothly and by the time she was done, she was questioning whether or not if she had just imagined it. That was kind of disturbing. She had always been attuned with her senses and her mind sharp. It would be problematic if she started to lose touch with it.


End file.
